Looking at the lush plantings in Prudence Caroline Oliveri’s garden, it’s hard to believe it was ever a meagre ‘dust pit’.
The artist and her husband Damian (who recently co-founded Oliveri Landscape Design and Construction together) moved into the Torquay home about four years ago with a vision to carve out a coastal oasis for their family on the 835-square-metre block.
‘[It was] decent size for an urban block of land, so size wise it was possible to have everything we wanted here,’ Prudence says.
‘The hardest part was starting completely from scratch. Everything from irrigation, fencing, levelling the land — all the boring stuff had to be done first!’
With the house north facing to the road, a large majority of the land was in the front garden, which they split into two parts to create an entrance courtyard and pool hidden behind bushy Syzygium paniculatum (Lilly Pilly) hedges and a curved brick wall.
Beyond the grassy driveway, there’s a walled garden filled with hydrangeas — Prudence’s favourite flower — that reveal pops of soft blue and purple when in full bloom.
‘We were after a journey to the front door,’ Prudence says of the garden’s structure.
‘You walk through one arch, through the hydrangeas garden, under the canopy of the maple tree, then through the second arch to arrive at the front door.’
The living, kitchen, and dining areas open to the pool area, where the family comes together to entertain friends and enjoy summer days.
There’s also a built-in lounge and a towering concrete fireplace, all designed and built by Damian whose primary business is in concreting.
These sleek concrete accents and a paved courtyard break up the sea of textural succulents and lush lawns, while the creeping vines of Ficus pumila (climbing fig) soften the lime-rendered brick exterior of the house.
At the very rear of the backyard is a more ‘laid back zone’, featuring an edible garden of herbs and fruit trees in the backdrop of an enviable kid’s play area — complete with a basketball circle with a built-in trampoline, and playground.
‘We couldn’t have imagined the games created between the three play elements,’ Prudence says.
It gives a whole new meaning to business in the front, and party at the back, because in this garden, there’s something for everyone.
